Reform UK faces data privacy showdown in High Court

The leadership of Reform UK has now been given something else to fall out over following the launch of legal action against the party over its alleged failure to comply with UK data protection legislation.

Political non-profit company The Good Law Project has launched the action against Nigel Farage’s Reform on behalf of 51 individuals, claiming the party ignored data subject access requests (DSARs) and subsequent legal letters.

The move followed the launch of the company’s #StopTargetingMe campaign during last year’s general election, which demanded that political parties told voters how they were using their personal data.

The tool also enabled voters to demand political parties delete all the data they held on them.

However, almost all (96%) of the people surveyed by Good Law Project who used the tool to contact Reform UK said the party had failed to respond to their data requests.

In a statement on its website, the Good Law Project said: “Before the election, thousands of Good Law Project supporters joined our #StopTargetingMe campaign and demanded that political parties level with them about their personal data – as the law requires.

“But Farage’s Reform replied to hardly anyone. Why not? And what are they hiding? To quote Farage, we’re “just asking questions”.

“We’re standing up to Reform and forcing them to put in place systems and procedures that respect people’s rights. We can’t let them get away with this. We’re now putting together a group claim to make Reform stick to the same rules as everyone else.”

The organisation has also launched a fundraiser to cover the legal costs of the case, which it plans to lodge at the High Court.

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